Some orders are difficult because the menu is complicated.
Others become difficult because of what needs to happen after the
food leaves the kitchen.
During Christmas 2023, a customer approached De’Vour with an order
that sounded simple at first: festive food sets for gifting.
Then we heard the quantity.
Fifty sets.
Then came the next detail.
They were not all going to one venue. The sets had to be delivered to
different addresses.
And there was one instruction the customer repeated because it
mattered to the presentation:
Do not forget the wooden boards and decorations.
At that point, this was no longer just a food order. It was a
food-production, packing, presentation, routing and delivery exercise
happening during one of the busiest periods of the year.
Fifty Sets Means
Fifty Complete Experiences
When a large catering order goes to one event, everything can be
packed in bulk. Trays travel together, serving equipment goes to one
location and the team has one delivery deadline to work towards.
Fifty individual Christmas sets are different.
Each set must look complete on its own. The food, wooden board and
festive decoration cannot be treated as separate details because the
recipient will only see the one set arriving at their door.
If one component is missing, that particular gift feels incomplete
even if the other 49 are perfect.
That is why the repeated reminder about the boards and decorations
made sense. They were part of what the customer had promised to every
recipient.
Food Production Was
Only the First Half
The kitchen still had to cook consistently across a much larger batch
than an ordinary home order.
The sausages needed the same colour and finish. Portions had to be
even. Hot food needed to be packed safely without damaging the
presentation. Decorations had to look festive without coming into
contact with the food in the wrong way.
But finishing the food did not mean the job was finished.
Every completed set had to be matched to the correct delivery, kept
stable in transit and handed over in the condition intended.
Multiple Addresses Change
Everything
One address gives a delivery team one destination and one arrival
window.
Multiple addresses create a route.
The order in which the sets leave matters. Travel time matters.
Building access matters. A delay at an early stop can affect every
address that follows.
During Christmas, the normal challenges become more pronounced. Roads
are busier, security counters may take time and many other businesses
are also trying to complete festive deliveries.
The packing order therefore has to follow the delivery order. The set
meant for the last destination cannot block the set needed at the first
stop.
The Small Details
Become the Biggest Risks
With an order of this size, it is rarely the main food item that gets
forgotten.
Everyone remembers the sausages because they are the centre of the
order. The higher risk comes from the repeated smaller components:
- One wooden board for every set
- The correct decorations
- Sauces and accompaniments
- Packaging that protects the arrangement
- The correct address matched to each set
A missing board cannot simply be replaced with “more food”. It
changes the product the customer ordered.
This is why large individual orders need checklists at several stages
rather than one final count at the door.
What We Learned From the
Order
The order reinforced something that has shaped how we approach large
deliveries ever since:
Logistics is part of the food.
It does not matter how well something leaves the kitchen if it
reaches the wrong place, arrives incomplete or loses its presentation
along the way.
For large customised orders, the real planning questions include:
- Is every set identical, or are there variations?
- Which elements must travel separately?
- How will the sets be protected?
- What is the delivery sequence?
- Which details matter most to the customer?
- Who performs the final check before dispatch?
The earlier these questions are answered, the calmer the final day
becomes.
Not Every Large
Order Looks Large at First
Fifty festive sets do not sound as dramatic as a 200-person buffet or
a live station with heavy equipment.
But an individually prepared gift going to many addresses contains a
different kind of complexity. Instead of one large event, it becomes 50
small events—each with one recipient expecting the same complete
experience.
We delivered the food, the wooden boards and the decorations. And we
came away with a useful Christmas lesson:
Sometimes the kitchen is the straightforward part.
It is everything after the kitchen that makes you wish you had your
own logistics department.
